Coping repertoires and psychological well-being of Chinese older immigrants in the United States

Abstract

Objectives

This study examines (1) the overall structures of multifaceted coping resources, that is, coping repertoires, among Chinese older immigrants in the United States, (2) the optimal coping repertoire that is associated with best psychological outcomes of these older immigrants, and (3) the most effective coping repertoire in different adversities.

Method

Using data from 2,923 Chinese older immigrants in Chicago, Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was performed to identify the overall coping repertoires of U.S. Chinese older adults. Negative binomial and logistic regressions were used to examine associations between coping repertoires and depression and Quality of Life (QoL), respectively. We further tested whether coping repertories moderate the relationships between adversities in health, economic, and social domains, and the two psychological outcomes.

Results

LCA revealed four types of coping repertories: low-resource (43%), spouse-oriented (32%), community-oriented (15%), and multi-source coping (10%). Overall, Chinese older immigrants who had the multi-source coping repertoire reported the best psychological outcomes. The community-oriented and multi-source coping repertories had significantly stronger buffering effects on psychological well-being among individuals with IADL difficulties or low acculturation. However, spouse-oriented coping intensified the association between ADL difficulties and depression, and community-oriented coping intensified the association between poorer subjective health and lower quality of life.

Conclusion

This study revealed overall low coping repertories of Chinese older immigrants, suggesting the most optimal coping repertories should consist of both intrinsic and extrinsic coping sources. The findings further show that relying on limited sources might be harmful to older immigrants’ mental health.

Keywords:

• Social support
• migration
• depression
• minority
• aging
• neighborhood cohesion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We didn’t include widowhood as a disadvantaged status in this study because: (1) it’s not associated with depression and was associated with a higher chance of reporting good quality of life, see Tables 4 and 5, and (2) one emerged coping repertoire – spouse-oriented coping (see Table 3) was pertinent to marital status, confounding the analysis on how such a coping repertoire may buffer the influence of widowhood on psychological outcomes.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging (grant number R21AG055804); and the Rutgers University Asian Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research Center under NIH/NIA Grant P30-AG059304.